Starting gate



Oct. 14, 1952 w, CHRIST 2,613,638

STARTING GATE Filed July 16, 1947 2 SHEETS--SHEET l TOR. @M

ATTORNEY.

W. E. CHRIST Oct. 14, 1952 STARTING GATE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed July 16, 1947 FIG.4.

m n WWW k FIG] INVENTQR. fl 2M ATTORNEY- Patented Oct. 14, 1952 UNI ED STATES PATENTQOFFICE 2,613,638 STARTING GATE William E. Christ, Hempstead, N. Y.

Application July 16, 1947, Serial No. 761,273

8 Claims.

My invention relates. to starting gates, that is to say to boxes or gates used for starting animal races, and especially to gates for starting horse races.

As is well known, starting gates now in common use consist of a number of individual boxes, stalls, or the like, each of which is closed at its forward end by a swingin door or doors. Customarily these doors are held closed electromagnetically, at least in the case of gates for horse racing, and are opened by springs when released by the electromagnetic holding mechanisms in starting a race. Heretofore various arrange ments have been used for such electromagnetic controls. In some of them the electromagnetic mechanism adds materially to the inertia of the doors. Others involve some mechanical difiicu1- ties or limitations in holding the doors closed against the lunging of the horses against the doors.

Speaking generally, my invention provides a better arrangement in such and other respects. Usually, I contemplate, the magnetic controls will be used to hold the gate doors closed against the pull of a spring or springs tending to open them as heretofore. By obvious changes however the electromagnetics can be caused to pull the doors open if this should be desired.

Briefly, from one. aspect, the invention involves connecting one or the other of the controlling armatures and their electromagnets (usually the armatures) to the door (or to such of them as are to be electromagneticlly controlled directly) adjacent vertically hinged edges of the doors and well below the tops of the doors, and mounting the other (usually the magnets) on fixed p-ortions of the gate structure at the respectively adjacent partitions. Preferably both the armatures and the electromagnets are mounted on fixed structures of the gate adjacent the respective partitions. Such arrangements eliminate the faults of some prior arrangements enumerated above, and also permit the provision of an adjustment whereby the force by which the doors are held closed can be changed readily as track officials may wish. From another aspect the invention involves a connecting rod or the like adjacent the vertical edges of the doors and be low the tops of the doors to contro1 the doors. Such a connecting rod or the like can be made adjustable in length as it were, if desired. This permits all the doors of a gate to be given substantially identical closed positions readily at the factory, and permits adjustments to be made subsequently in the field if and as readjustment of the closed positions of any of the doors should become necessary or desirable.

These and other matters concerned with my invention will be understood from the embodiments of it shown in the accompanying drawings. In those drawings: Fig. 1 is substantially a perspective View of a starting gate which may be considered to embody the form of my invention which I now prefer. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the forward part of a partition of the gate, one gate of the adjacent stall being shown in closed position. Fig. 3 is a section on line III-III of Fig. 2, showing the door-operating mechanism particularly. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mechanism of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section on the line VV of Fig. 2, one door being open however and a door of the adjacent stall closed. Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an electrical circuit that may be used with the gate. Fig. 7 is a perspective at a single door of a gate illustrating a modified arrangement.

The starting gate illustrated has an elongated overhead framework 5 mounted on wheels 2 for ready movement about the race course or track. Two parallel lines of posts 3 and l depend from the overhead structure to support the partitions which divide the gate into stalls. Speaking generally, each partition comprises a panel or panels 5 and above the panel or panels screening 6 between the posts of each pair, a lower horizontal section I projecting forwardly of the post row 4 and rearwardly of the row 3, a vertical portion projecting rearwardly of the post row 3 and above the lower section I (Fig. 1) upper vertical screening 8 forward of the post row a, and a pair of vertical panels 9 spaced from each other below the screening 8. The screenings 8 are supported by the adjacent posts 4, horizontally projecting beams H), verticals H from beams ill, and horizontal beams l2 connecting the posts t and the lower ends of the verticals II. The panels 9 rest on the lower sections 1 and are supported by the horizontals I2 and the posts 4. The verticals II and for-ward edges of the panels 9 form the forward face of the gate as it were. The verticals H are not extended to the lower sections I in order, principally, to leave room for the connecting rods by which the doors are controlled. Customarily the various planes of the partitions, as well as the lower horizontal section I, are covered with pads as somewhat indicated in Fig. 1. customarily also the rear end of each stall is closeable by a pair of manuallyoperable doors l3; these may be hinged to the partition structure in a conventional manner, for example.

The forward end of each stall is closeable by a pair of doors I4 and I5. Each door I4 or I5 consists of a metal framework carrying screening and including at least one cross bar I6 located somewhere midway of the vertical length of the door and usually near or below the middle of the door. The vertical bar I! of the framework of each door, at the edge of the door that is near the adjacent partition, may constitute the hinge pin of the door, for this purpose extending above the body of the door to enter a bearing in a head I8 on the adjacent beam I and extending below the bottom of the door body to enter a bearing in the adjacent partition por-- tion or section I. Springs I9, attached at one end to arms 20 projecting from the frame of each door and attached at their opposite ends to some appropriate parts of the gate framework, serve to open the doors when the latter are released electrically in starting a race as described below. In the present instance only the door I4 of each pair is held closed electromagnetically, directly, this door overlapping its companion I when the two are closed and thus serving to hold its companion closed; the plate 2| of each door I4 directly overlaps the frame of the companion I5.

Latches 22 and 23 respectively hinged to each section 1 at 24 and 25, serve to grasp the doors as they swing open and prevent rebound. A spring 26 holds the latches in door-holding position yieldingly, and keepers 27 on the doors engage the latches automatically as the doors open.

The gate thus described is shown for representative purposes substantially only. It is a gate to which my invention is readily applicable, but my invention can be applied to other forms of starting gates or boxes also as will be understood from its description.

From the hinged edge I1 of each door I4 (i. e. from one door of each pair serving the forward end of each stall in the present instance), an arm 30 projects to the side of the hinge opposite the body of the door (Fig. 3) for connection to the respective controlling armature. In order to resist the heavy thrusts when a horse may lunge against the doors of a stall, these arms must be anchored to the doors I4 securely. Preferably therefore each arm 30 is extended along the face of its door I4 as it were as indicated at 3| (Fig. 3), e. g. along a cross bar I6 of the door and which is fastened to both the door vertical or hinge pin I 'I and the vertical bar of the framework at the opposite or swinging edge of the door. The part 3| may be an integral part of the arm 30 or a brace attached to the arm 33. The parts 30 and 3| are fixed rigidly to the vertical bars I1 and the cross bars I6. A connecting rod 32 is attached to each of these arms 33 and extends toward the rear. Preferably this is adjustable in length. To this end, each connecting rod includes a yoke 33 embracing and hinged to its arm 30 and a bar 34 threaded into the yoke; a nut 35, threaded on the bar 34 and bearing on the end of the yoke may be added to help transmit the thrust of the door and arm 3|! to the bar 34 (Figs. 3 and 4). At the opposite end of each connecting rod, and between the adjacent panels, 9, is an armature 43. Each armature 49 is hinged at 4| to some convenient form of brack structure 42 extending from, say, the adjacent suspension post 4, and preferably both ends of each hinge pin 4| are supported against thrust substantially in the direction of the related connecting rod 32 as indicated at 43 and 44 for example. Each connecting rod 32 is hinged to its armature, as at 45, at one side of the armature hinge pin 4|. Preferably each hinge pin 45 is carried by a bracket 46 that rests against the adjacent face of the armature and which is fastened to the armature by a bolt 48 located in a slot 49 in the armature and which extends away from the armature hinge pin 4| (Fig. 3). Also at one side of the armature hinge 4| (and usually at the opposite side from the connecting rod hinge 45), each armature 40 faces its individual electromagnet 41. Each electromagnet 41 is attached firmly to the fixed structure of the gate, e. g. to the bracket 42 of its armature, and is so related to its armature that when the armature is held to its poles, its gate I4 is closed, while movement of its gate I4 to open position moves the armature away from the electromagnet (Figs. 2, 3 and 4).

The electromagnets 41 may be connected to a source of current 50 in a conventional manner (Fig. 6). That is, they may be connected in parallel with each other across the source 50 and as a. group in series with the starting switch 5|, which normally may be closed as indicated. Also each electromagnet 41 may be connected in series with an individual normally closed switch 52. Ordinarily the starting switch 5| will be at the end of a cable reaching to the starters box, or will be remotely controlled from the starters box. Each of the individual switches 52 may be located at some convenient place near the door which it controls; for example, at the forward end of the adjacent lower section or portion I of the adjacent partition (Fig. 2). The individual switches 52 enable the starters assistants to open the doors of any stall whenever this may be necessary.

It will be seen that the lengthwise adjustability of the connecting rods permits the doors to be brought to substantially identical closed positions readily. For example, if any armature or electromagnet is misplaced a little so that the armature strikes the poles of its electromagnet before its door is closed quite as far as desired (or if the door is closed too far when the armature reaches the magnet poles), the yoke 33 of its connecting rod 32 can be disconnected from its door arm 30, and then the yoke and its nut 35 screwed farther out on the bar 34 so as to, in effect, lengthen the connecting rod an appropriate amount (or the two can be screwed farther onto the bar so as to shorten the rod), with the result that when the yoke 33 is replaced on its arm 30 the door can be closed close to the desired position.

Usually I energize the magnets 41 sufiiciently to hold the doors closed, but not strongly enough to move the doors from open to closed positions. Assuming therefore that the doors I4 and I5 of any stall are open and that the starting switch 5| is closed, it will be seen that those doors can be closed and fixed in their closed positions by merely releasing their holding latches 22 and 23 and swinging the two doors to their closed 10- cations, with door I4 overlapping door I5. The movement of I 4 to closed position moves its armature 40 into engagement with, or near to, the ends of the poles of its electromagnet and, the latter being energized, the magnet then acts to hold both doors of the pair closed against the tension of their opening springs I9 and against the normal thrusts of the horses against the doors. Usually however the magnets are energized suffi ciently weakly to permit the lunging of a horse against its doors to open them. The extent to which this is permitted can be adjusted by adjustment of the hinge brackets 46 along the faces of the armatures as permitted by the bolt slots 49 in the armatures. To start a race after all the horses are in stalls and the forward doors closed, the starter merely opens the starting switch 51 momentarily. This de-energizes all the electromagnets, and immediately the springs [9 open the doors to release the horses. Closing the starting switch after a race has been started, restores the gate to condition for resetting for another race.

Fig. 7 illustrates a modification of the foregoing in which the armature 60 of each door (or of one door of a pair) is mounted on the door itself and the connecting rod is omitted. The gate can be considered to be as before described. The magnet 6I of the directly controlled door 62 is mounted in such a position on the stationary framework of the gate that the closing of the door brings the armature to the magnet poles, and opening of the door moves the armature from the electromagnet. For example, the electromagnet 6| can be mounted on a bracket 63 extending from, say, the adjacent suspending post 4, and the armature can be mounted on an arm 64 mounted on the door and extending to the opposite side of the hinge rod H from the body of the door. The electromagnets can be connected as shown in Fig. 6 for example. The operation of closing and opening the doors with this form of apparatus is so like that of the preceding figures that it will be understood.

It will be understood of course that my invention is not limited to the details of operation and construction described above and shown in the drawing, except as appears in the claims hereafter.

I claim:

1. A race starting gate having a stationary structure including substantially vertical partitions forming a plurality of stalls, at least one door having a substantially vertical edge closing the forward end of each of said stalls, each of said doors being pivoted to said stationary structure of the gate adjacent said vertical edge of the door, at least one spring operatively connected to said doors and stationary structure to swing said doors to open positions, an electromagnetic unit and a cooperating armature unit for each of said doors to hold the doors closed against said springs, of each electromagnetic unit and its armature unit, at least one of said units being mounted on said fixed structure of the gate substantially at a partition adjacent its respective door and the other being mounted movably for movement toward and from the one said unit, and means connecting each said movable unit to its respective door adjacent said vertical edge of the door and below the top of the door for movement with the door.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that each electromagnetic unit is mounted on said fixed structure, and is fixed in position thereon, and each armature unit moves with respect to its electromagnetic unit and with its door.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, characterized by the fact that the armature units, as well as the electromagnetic units, are mounted on said stationary structure.

4. The subject matter of claim 3, characterized by the fact that each armature unit is pivoted for movement toward and from its electromagnetic unit.

5. The subject matter of claim 3, characterized by the fact that said means connecting each movable armature unit to its door is a connecting rod which is composed of at least two members that are adjustable relative to each other longitudinally of the rod.

6. The subject matter of claim 4, characterized by the fact that each electromagnetic unit and its armature unit is located rearwardly of their respective door and within a partition.

7. The subject matter of claim 4, characterized by the fact that a second door is provided for the forward end of each stall, springs are provided to open said second doors, and in closed position the electromagnetically controlled door of each pair overlaps said second door of the pair to hold such second door closed.

8. A race starting gate having a stationary structure including substantially vertical partitions forming a plurality of stalls, at least a closure member pivoted adjacent an edge of the closure member to close and open one of said stalls, a tension member operatively connected to each partition and to its closure member to swing said closure member to open position, an electro-rnagnet mounted on said stationary structure, a connecting rod attached to said closure member adjacent to said edge of the closure member, an armature, and a bracket attached to said armature and. to said connecting rod, said armature being movably mounted on said fixed structure for movement to and from a position adjacent said electromagnet where said electromagnet restrains said armature and said closure member through the connecting rod from movement by the tension member, and said bracket being adjustable on said armature to vary the effective restraint on said closure member.

WILLIAM E. CHRIST.

REFERENCES CFTED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,312,895 Derby Aug. 12, 1919 1,870,768 Comfort et al Aug. 9, 1932 1,940,027 Smith Dec. 19, 1933 2,171,365 Harding Aug. 29, 1939 2,297,875 Cormier Oct. 6, 1942 2,323,150 McMillan June 29, 1943 2,418,807 Whann et a1. Apr. 8, 1947 2,435,729 Whann et a1. Feb. 10, 1948 

